I have officially figured out what the problem is with The Spellweaver of Dern. I’d thought it was a problem before, and I was right. The Presh storyline is all wrong. In fact, after thinking upon it earlier I’ve decided that I hate it. Sure, it’s good on its own, but it doesn’t belong in SoD. Why? Because it isn’t WISB; it’s something else.
I noticed it while listening to a podcast and thinking about where I wanted to go with the story. There is humor there, but when I thought about that humor I realized that it doesn’t work. Presh and Fidge feel more like characters from a different fantasy world (Altern, to be specific). There is a lot of quirkiness there, and WISB isn’t that quirky. True, WISB has Pea, who is strange, fun, and, in my mind, hilarious, but Pea is also an incredibly serious character who is funny not necessarily because of his jokes, but because of how he deals with serious issues. Take his first appearance, which I won’t ruin here in case you haven’t read it. James discovers something about Pea that Pea takes great offense about, but to us is rather humorous both because Pea makes a scene about it and because what happens is somewhat funny. But it’s not funny to Pea, and it’s certainly not funny just as a comedic moment, but as other things as well, since it establishes the character and gives us some much needed cultural inclusion. With Presh and Fidge there isn’t a lot of that. True, there is culture, but their storyline feels more like a big joke to me, and I don’t want WISB to feel like a joke. WISB’s humor is in conjunction with some serious issues, particularly for James because of all he has to go through to succeed on his “quest/journey/mission/etc.”. I didn’t feel like Presh and Fidge were going somewhere of equal importance. I had intentions for them to go there, but it felt more like they were going somewhere that isn’t in WISB, but perhaps in Altern instead.
So with that, I’m making an official decision on the fate of Presh and Fidge: I’m cutting them out of SoD. They don’t belong. I intend to keep them for something else, or at least if I have something else that I can use them in. I want to focus mostly on James and Laura, and their companions, and have come up with a plan that keeps you readers in-the-know about what is happening on Traea while the other characters are fleeing. That was the prime reason for Presh and Fidge, and now that I have an idea how to go about keeping that inclusion without them, things may work better. I want the issues in WISB to remain serious, with some comedic relief, rather than becoming a quirky fantasy novel.
There also is a major connection between the world of Traea and our world, which will be realized either in SoD or in the next book…at least if you’re paying attention (I’m not going to go “here it is, look and be amazed” with the connection, because I already did that).
So having said that, it’s done. I hope it’s alright with everyone who has been reading. I just want to push James and Laura forward, and I find it difficult knowing that Presh and Fidge were problem characters for me.
Thanks!
